Evan Rachel Wood Won’t Get Equal ‘Westworld’ Pay Until Season 3

HBO made a point of correcting pay parity among its male and female stars, though the network understandably declined to name examples. Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood has no such qualms, however, and reveals her raise won’t take effect until Season 3.

Wood acknowledged as much in conversation with The Wrap, adding “I’ve never been paid the same as my male counterparts. Never, never.” The raise is said to put her on par with co-stars Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris, though it is not yet clear if either actor will actually take part in Westworld Season 3 (which HBO has not formally ordered). Wood also explained that she understood her initial HBO contract not placing her in the same bracket as the older actors, though their workload has now leveled out:

I think I’m just now to the point where I’m getting paid the same as my male co-stars … I was just told that, you know, ‘Hey you’re, you’re getting equal pay.’ And I was like [mimes gasp]. And I almost got emotional. I was like, ‘I have never been paid the same as my male counterparts … Never, never.’ […]

Westworld, it’s like, I get it a little more. It’s like, ‘Well, you’re Anthony Hopkins or Ed Harris.’ But I think now we’re all doing equal amounts of work and really hard work.

It was a few weeks ago that HBO boss Casey Bloys acknowledged that Reese Witherspoon and the Big Little Lies cast helped lead the charge for equal pay at the network. Bloys chose not to name any examples of salaries that required correction (HBO similarly declined comment here), though he did admit that experience and awards play a factor in initial salaries. Tellingly, he went on to state “But when you get into Season 2 or 3 of a show and the show is a success, it is much harder to justify paying people wildly disparate numbers.”

We can apparently take Wood’s pay bump as tacit admission Westworld is renewed for Season 3, but stay tuned for more official word and check out our Season 2 review in the meantime.